April 30, 2011

Finnish au pairs, 10 years later

When I asked the two attractive young ladies whether they were tourists, they said "yes, we are from Finland but we lived in Brussels before, 10 years ago". They must have seen my surprise because I thought they were young to be talking with nostalgia about times gone by.  So,  they added they were living here as au pairs and wanted to find out what had changed. 

11 comments:

  1. C'est un sentiment étrange que de ce sentir touriste dans une ville apres 10 ans passé. C'est parfois ce que je ressens à Paris. C'est assez marrant

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  2. interesting story! I would be curious to find out their opinion...

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  3. Oui, Pierre... personnellement j'ai souvent été "absente" mais jamais pendant 10 ans..
    Jeroen, true.. I hope they will see their picture, read your post and reply with their impressions..would be fun.
    so, girls, if you see this, we are ready to hear what you have to say...

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  4. Too young for nostalgia indeed. These two could be like my grandson who is three and a half.

    Yesterday as he and I watched some dancing on a DVD and I commented to him that I could never dance like that, my grandson said to me, 'I can't dance like that either, but when I was a big boy, I could'.

    His sense of his place in time moves backwards and forwards. Amazing.

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  5. Very nice shot of these two young ladies.

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  6. How wonderful to maintain a friendship made during work abroad, and even better that they have a fondness for Belgium.

    They do look very young for it to have been 10 years - hah!

    Bises,
    Genie

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  7. Everything changes so quickly nowadays that I really understand their point and I think that's cool.

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  8. Elisabeth, that is a very smart grandson you have !
    Thanks, Randy.
    I agree, Genie, it is always wonderful to see friendship survive, years and distance
    Yes, JM, you are absolutely rigth.

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  9. Salut! I finally got around to come and find your blog! Wow, you're being super nice with all those comments about being young. We're actually in our 30's and were indeed very young the last time we spent time in and around Brussels.. Young and carefree.

    It was very strange to visit again, but also rewarding and liberating in a sense. So much had changed, yet absolutely nothing. The atmosphere of the city felt quite the same. The world seemed so big those 10 years ago, as opposed to now in the times of globalization and internet and everything..

    I must say that the best part of our trip were the art exhibitions, especially the newly(?) opened Wiels centre (http://www.wiels.org/site2/home.php). I recommend it to everyone! The whole building itself is very interesting too. I just love seeing the love for artistic experiments all around Brussels. I didn't notice that in 2000, so maybe things have really changed!

    Thanks for publishing our story! It's interesting to read everybody's thoughts..

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  10. .. oh yeah, I didn't mention that I'm the girl on the right in the picture, just wanted to let you know that I finally found your blog after a couple of weeks after our trip.

    Love, Anna

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  11. Hi Anna
    Thank you for visiting Belgium virtually. I am so happy that you made your way home, found the blog and to get your comments and insights.
    I think you are right.. I notice more attention to the arts than 10 years ago.
    I visited Wiels for the first time last week and will make a post on that building in the next few days.
    Take care, it was super nice meeting both of you, being able to take your picture and post it ! ...and let me know next time you are in town.. hopefully not another 10 years !
    anni

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